


you make a fool of death with your beauty

by caitlesshea



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Found Family, Immortal Husbands, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of past injury, Minor Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Minor Booker | Sebastien le Livre/James Copley, Minor Nile Freeman/Lykon, TOG HQ Secret Santa, mentions of crash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:54:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28292691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlesshea/pseuds/caitlesshea
Summary: Joe and Nicky are your average tired café owners who live above their café in a five floor walk up studio apartment they’ve had since college, until one day, when forever seems a lot longer than they originally thought.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83





	you make a fool of death with your beauty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bloodsuitsandtears](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodsuitsandtears/gifts).



> For the TOG HQ Secret Santa! I couldn’t resist immortal husbands + found family and I hope you like it!

“Nico? Nico!” Joe tries to move but everything feels stuck. 

After a couple of minutes he’s finally able to turn over and through the wreckage he sees Nicolò laying underneath something heavy.

“Nicolò,” Joe wheezes just as Nicky stirs and moves his head to look at Joe.

“Yusuf.” Nicky reaches his hand out and Joe grasps it as he crawls closer to Nicky. 

Joe’s able to move what looks like a seat off of Nicky and they both notice the open doorway as they get up slowly and stumble through it.

“Survivors! We have survivors! I need a medic!”

Joe and Nicky look at each other with wide eyes as they turn as one to see the mangled subway car behind them.

“What?” Joe’s about to ask when suddenly they’re surrounded by rescue workers and EMT’s.

The questions come in rapid fire as they’re taken to a triage situation and Joe feels like his head is going to explode.

_ Yes, they were on the subway together. _

_ No, they don’t remember the crash. _

_ Yes, they feel fine and would like to go home. _

Joe leans his forehead against Nicky’s, thankful his husband is okay. He wipes some of the blood off of his forehead, a little concerned there’s not even a scrape on either of them, but thankful nonetheless.

“We’re okay,” Joe whispers in Italian. Nicky nods in return and grabs his hand, absently running his fingers over Joe’s simple wedding ring. 

“I don’t remember the crash.” Nicky looks at him with wide eyes and Joe kisses him.

“Neither do I.”

“Just flashes, two women together at a shooting range, two men playing cards, and a man and another woman somewhere, Greece maybe?” 

Joe’s breath catches and he looks at Nicky, confused.

“You saw all that, too?”

“Sì. Was it a dream?”

“I don’t know.” Joe runs a hand over his side, his tattered and blood covered shirt makes it looks like he was stabbed with something but like Nicky there’s not even a scratch.

“Okay gentlemen,” Officer Keane starts as he walks over to them. “Looks like the medics have checked you out, so you’re free to go. Here’s my card if you remember something and we’ll be in touch if we need your statements for anything.”

“Thank you, sir,” Joe jumps off the back of the ambulance and helps Nicky get down as well.

“We can have one of the officers drop you off somewhere so you’re not walking around the city like this.” 

“Oh.” Joe looks down at both of their dusty and ruined clothes and nods. “Yes please, that would be nice.”

It’s not until they’re sitting in the car that Joe realizes how tired he is. Nicky’s head is lolling onto his shoulder and Joe brings his arm around Nicky to pull him closer.

When they finally pull up in front of their apartment building Joe grumbles at their five story walk up. Nicky makes a protesting noise as he wakes up and Joe shushes him as they make their way into the building.

He has half a mind to grab coffee and a pastry from the bakery at ground level that they work at but Joe would much rather lay down in their bed.

Their studio apartment has served them well over the years; artwork, rugs, and plants taking up a majority of the space, but it’s home.

Two broke college kids when they first moved in and now it’s over ten years later and they’re married and still sharing the same full sized bed. Joe smiles. 

Not much has changed from when they met as young kids and decided to follow each other here for school. 

“We should shower first, Joe.”

Joe slips out of his musings and looks down at himself and grimaces. “Yeah, we should.” 

“I think the clothes are toast.”

Joe chuckles warmly. “Seems that way. C’mon, we can both fit.”

“Yusuf,” Nicky says exasperated. “You know we can’t.”

“Please, amore mio?” 

Nicky must sense Joe’s desperation because he agrees quickly and they both jump into the tiny shower.

Joe relishes in the hot water as Nicky massages his scalp and winds his fingers through his curls.

“How are we not injured?” Joe asks as they step out of the shower and get into sweats so they can lay in bed together.

“I don’t know.” Nicky turns to face him and Joe pulls him closer.

“I was so scared, Nico. You were under all that rubble and - ”

“Shh, Yusuf, we’re okay.” Nicky brings Joe’s face towards his neck and Joe sinks into the familiar embrace. 

_ We’re okay. _

It’s Joe’s last conscious thought before he succumbs to sleep.

In the morning, Joe’s barely coherent enough to get out of bed, much less open the coffee shop they’ve been working at since college, that they now own.

“Yusuf, sit. I’ll open.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sì. It won’t take long. Here.” Nicky pushes Joe’s favorite chai tea latte into his hands and Joe sits down at a table to sketch while Nicky busies himself with opening the coffee shop. 

Joe’s so lost in his sketching that he barely registers the front door opening until Nicky’s voice carries through the shop.

“We’re closed!”

Joe looks up and drops his charcoal as his mouth hangs open.

“Nicolò,” Joe whispers as Nicky comes from the back of the shop.

“Joe? What?” Joe watches Nicky freeze and drop the towel he’s holding.

They both turn almost comically to look at the strangers in their shop, almost like they’re seeing ghosts. 

The familiarity is hard to swallow because standing in front of them are the people from their dreams during the crash.

“This is a nice place you have here. Espresso?” The tall woman with short black hair and piercing blue eyes asks and Nicky nods as he goes to grab her a drink.

“Uh, anyone else?” Nicky asks as an afterthought and as everyone prattles off their order Joe stands to help, thankful for something to do.

“Why did we dream of them?” Joe whispers to Nicky as they start making drinks. 

“I don’t know.” 

“Do you think they caused the crash?”

Nicky looks at him sharply. “Do you?”

Joe looks over at the people scattered throughout their shop and feels something tug in his chest. “No.”

Nicky nods his agreement and leans in to kiss Joe and Joe smiles as they carry the various drinks to the six others.

Various  _ thank you’s  _ and a couple of happy moans later, Joe and Nicky sit down at the last empty table.

“I’m sure you have questions.” The same woman speaks again.

They nod.

“I’m Andromache the Scythian, but you can call me Andy. This is Quynh, James Copley, Sébastien le Livre, Nile Freeman, and Lykon.

“Joe al-Kaysani.” Joe points to himself.

“Nicky di Genova.” Nicky responds and grabs Joe’s hand. 

Andy nods. “You own the shop?”

“Yes.”

“And you live upstairs?”

“How do you?”

“I just do.” Andy’s no nonsense voice is truly something to behold. 

Joe doesn’t like it but he nods anyways.

“Why are you here? Why did we dream of you?” Nicky gets right to the point and Joe squeezes his hand.

“We dream each other,” James says slowly. “When we die.”

“When we?” Joe swallows roughly.

“You died on that train, but you came back to life.” Quynh chirps in a sing song voice. 

“We what?”

“You can’t die,” Andy says as she drinks her espresso like it’s no big deal.

“We can’t die?”

“Not anymore,” Nile responds this time. “I know it’s confusing.”

“You think?” Joe snaps and Nicky rubs his thumb over Joe’s hand to calm him down.

“We’re immortal. All of us and now you two, as well. We each have our own story but mine started thousands of years ago, and we dream of each other when we first die, until we meet, so we can find each other,” Andy says in one long winded breath and Joe and Nicky stare at her with wide eyes. 

“We can’t die?” Joe whispers.

“Not anymore,” Sébastien responds gruffly. 

“And we don’t age?” Nicky, ever pragmatic, asks. 

“You’ll forever be the ages you are now.” Lykon points to them.

“We, we can’t leave.” Joe thinks of their home, their shop, their friends.

“You have about ten years before people start to get suspicious, especially if you adjust your appearances, but we can deal with that when the time comes,” James responds and Sébastien snorts.

“We don’t have to go with you?” 

“Not if you don’t want to.” James looks sharply at Andy and she nods.

“Eventually the people around you will age and die, but…”

“It’s just us,” Nicky’s outburst is met with confused stares. “It’s just us, our families are gone.”

“But, we have the shop and we don’t want to leave it.” Joe adds.

“Then you won’t.” Nile smiles at them. “Plus maybe you could use another barista?”

“Wait really?” Joe asks bewildered.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve spent any time in this city, I think we can stay,” Andy states and everyone releases a collective breath.

“Really, Boss?” Sébastien asks.

“Yeah, Book.” 

“Book?” Joe and Nicky ask. 

“Booker,” Sébastien responds. “It’s a nickname.”

“It’s very original, darling.” James leans across the table to kiss Sébastien, whose face has turned slightly pink. 

Joe smiles at them and leans closer to Nicky. 

They look at their new friends as they let their voices wash over them. The gentle teasing that only comes from knowing someone a long time.

Time that Joe and Nicky seem to have an abundance of, now.

“Forever, hayati,” Nicky whispers with a reverence that makes Joe’s heart sing.

_ “Forever.”  _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading come find me on Tumblr - same username!


End file.
